Govt realises 632 Crore in Fines for Illegal Mining

New Delhi: The government said it has realized fines worth 632 crore from companies and officials found involved in illegal mining between 2006 and September last year. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said that during the same period, the highest amount of fine was realised from Andhra Pradesh followed by 104.96 crore from Tamil Nadu and Rs 104.24 crore from Gujarat. The minister said that since 2006, till the end of the September quarter of the current fiscal, nearly two lakh vehicles were seized and 31,033 court cases filed. The highest number of illegal mining cases were detected in 2010 at 73,115 followed by the previous year at 41,578. In the current year so far, 47,254 cases were detected in which Maharashtra has the highest number at 20,928. Illegal mining mainly results in royalty revenues losses to states, but the amount could not be quantified, Patel said. To another question, Patel said since states are the owners of the mines, they have been given full power to frame their own rules for curbing illegal mining. The minister said apart from advisory and co-ordinating activities to help states to curb illegal mining, the Centre has made it mandatory for all miners, traders, exporters and end-users to register with Indian Bureau of Mines and report their transaction in minerals on monthly and annual basis. The draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011, introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 12, 2011, also provides for increasing the minimum lease size to 10 hectare for major minerals and five hectares for minor minerals aimed at making it easier to detect and demarcate. It also provides for increasing the fine to 10 times of the value of the mineral mined or three years of imprisonment or both.